Want positive stories? Really? Or just the weird?
We reporters get criticized quite a bit about dwelling on the negative. People often ask, "Why don't you do positive stories?"
Here's the Top 10 viewed stories on the Web site through 11 a.m. today. This is what people are reading:
1. Woman, 35, jumps to her death
from Manhattan Beach apartment
2. Girl, 9, gives birth after being impregnated by mom's boyfriend
3. 5th-grader dies in freak recess accident
4. Restaurant Closures
5. Dead woman still breathing in morgue
6. More California drivers becoming cell-phone scofflaws
7. Redondo Beach stabbing suspect arrested
8. Harbor College's Chris Mims, who starred for the SD Chargers, found dead
9. Mom, 84, cremated on a BBQ
10. 2 are sought in kidnapping attempt in San Pedro.
The stories on the Power of Art festival in Redondo Beach, and the police fundraiser to help a cop pay for his cancer treatments didn't make the list.
You can form your own opinions about that.
But a dead person breathing at the morgue, a 9-year-old giving birth, and a mom cremated on a barbecue? The top news story of the day is some despondent woman jumping to her death from a balcony? Really?
Here's the Top 10 viewed stories on the Web site through 11 a.m. today. This is what people are reading:
1. Woman, 35, jumps to her death
from Manhattan Beach apartment
2. Girl, 9, gives birth after being impregnated by mom's boyfriend
3. 5th-grader dies in freak recess accident
4. Restaurant Closures
5. Dead woman still breathing in morgue
6. More California drivers becoming cell-phone scofflaws
7. Redondo Beach stabbing suspect arrested
8. Harbor College's Chris Mims, who starred for the SD Chargers, found dead
9. Mom, 84, cremated on a BBQ
10. 2 are sought in kidnapping attempt in San Pedro.
The stories on the Power of Art festival in Redondo Beach, and the police fundraiser to help a cop pay for his cancer treatments didn't make the list.
You can form your own opinions about that.
But a dead person breathing at the morgue, a 9-year-old giving birth, and a mom cremated on a barbecue? The top news story of the day is some despondent woman jumping to her death from a balcony? Really?
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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no, mr. altman. we do not want "positive" or "negative" stories. we want reporters to do what they are supposed to do:
1. fight crime, waste, mismanagement
2. point out wrong-doing (both in the public and government)
3. highlight, embarass, expose corrupt politicians
4. be compassionate about the victims of crime
we're running out of heros, larry.
It's always good to remember that the purpose of the news story is to get you to view the ADVERTISING. That's what pays their bills. News is a business first and a public service second. They need to use the CRAZY SENSATIONAL story so YOU will read it and they can make money. Otherwise they will go out of business.
With that said...they print what is popular in a way that makes it even more popular, therefore readers only have themselves to blame for the content. After all, if nobody read the wierd/freaky/gory/SEXY stories, they would not print them.
Stories about most events and happenings would not be interesting enough to compel the average reader to spend time on them.
Along the way they also print some stories that serve the public by fighting corruption, etc. etc.
Thomas